Chapter 23: Filial Mo-chan
[Gawain and Tristan, thanks to the effect of "Harp of Healing," each receive one alcohol resistance buff.]
[But yours has already been used. This time, you have no choice but to drink.]
[Proceed to a Endurance Check!]
[Since you already drank once, the alcohol has started to blur your consciousness—this check will be extremely difficult.]
A dice fell right in front of him.
Eikou's heart instantly felt like it was hanging in his throat.
If the check fails — he would definitely collapse on the spot.
[Check - Hard: Success!]
[You force yourself to drink the entire glass of "Water of Life". It feels like swallowing a mouthful of burning fire, the strong alcohol surges up, making your head feel hot, your whole body feels like it's about to lift off the ground.]
[Strangely, you manage to remain conscious.]
[But if you drink again next time, you might not be so lucky…]
[If you continue drinking, the next check will become: extremely hard check]
"..."
Judging by probability—unless his luck exploded, this would definitely be the final chance.
"How is it, Sir Eikou?" Tristan immediately asked.
"The tide has turned, I'm counterattacking."
Eikou set the empty glass down on the table, while glancing at Morgan.
He had underestimated Morgan. Her Fairy Eyes didn't just help her accurately identify the Queen stick, but could also deliver an area-of-effect attack on all three of them.
If Morgan draws the Queen again, then calls out all three of them to drink again… the boys' team would be completely defeated.
But—
If he remembered correctly, Morgan's Endurance was extremely poor, only at rank E. Just one round of drinking would be enough to make her collapse on the spot.
Truly a classic "glass cannon" character—high attack but weak defense.
"Gawain, Tristan, come over for a private chat."
Eikou pulled both of them aside and whispered:
"Do either of you have a skill that can disrupt Morgan? Stop her from drawing that Queen. As long as we can get her to drink just once, we'll definitely win."
Tristan replied in a low voice:
"Leave that to me. My skill—'Admonishment of the King of Knights'—can temporarily remove buffs from others and suppress the opponent's luck."
"Then I'm counting on you!"
Once the plan was settled, the three of them returned to their usual expressions as if nothing had happened.
"Ehem, let's start the next round then."
"Hold on."
Morgan lazily sat on the chair, legs elegantly crossed, as if it were her true throne.
"Baobhan Sith, it's your turn to take the stage."
"Leave it to me, Mother-sama!"
Baobhan Sith—with her fiery red hair and dazzling smile—enthusiastically stepped forward.
[Baobhan Sith has activated her skill — using "Blessed Successor" on all the male members.]
[All Noble Phantasms and skills of the male team are temporarily sealed.]
NOOOOOOO!!!!
Too vicious! This skill matched Eikou's long-standing prejudice against Baobhan Sith perfectly.
Forget about Tristan's debuff removal skill — even Eikou's Instinct skill couldn't be used!
"What do we do?"
Both Gawain and Tristan looked toward Eikou at the same time.
Eikou gritted his teeth:
"There's no other way, we have to quickly snatch the Queen stick before Morgan can draw it."
"Even if she has Fairy Eyes and can see through the Queen stick… she can't stop us from acting first."
The battle had reached the critical moment of life and death, and the opportunity… only came once.
Simply put, this was a game of luck.
[Another round of drawing lots begins.]
[Which stick do you choose? 1. Closest to you; 2. Farthest from you; 3. In the middle.]
Eikou chose one.
The three male students, relying on their high agility, quickly grabbed the stick closest to them.
[Unfortunately, you still did not draw the Queen stick.]
[Your number is five.]
[You glance at the others in the male group — none of them drew the Queen stick either. All of you are visibly disappointed.]
"Wooohhh!"
From the other side of the table came Mordred's excited shout.
"Ha ha, it's finally my turn to be the King!"
She waved the Queen stick in excitement, smiling brightly, revealing an adorable fang.
"Congratulations, Mo-chan," Eikou said.
"You're supposed to say 'Your Majesty'!"
Just drawing the stick could make her this happy, huh.
Eikou smiled wryly and shook his head.
Mordred cleared her throat and, imitating Artoria's dignified tone, shouted:
"Then, by the name of the King I order—Number Two, drink!!"
Eikou looked at the stick in his hand that said Number Five, and breathed a sigh of relief—thankfully, it wasn't him.
Meanwhile, Morgan beside him had a dark expression and put down the stick in her hand.
Clearly written on it: Number Two.
It was Morgan!
"Huh? It's Mother?!" Mordred was stunned.
"..."
"..."
The whole room fell silent.
"Victoryyyyy!!!!"
The three male students were dumbfounded at first, then suddenly burst into cheers of joy—in fact, to be precise, Tristan still maintained the image of a sorrowful handsome guy.
What is a way out of a desperate situation? This is exactly a way out of a desperate situation!
Up until now, Morgan had never been targeted, had never once been the punished in this Queen's Game, and now she was hit hard by her own daughter.
As expected of Mordred—truly "filial."
Tristan couldn't help but express respectful admiration:
"I told you, Sir Mordred is really talented. Don't just look at how she smokes and gets into fights all day without doing proper work—when it comes down to it, whether it's harming her mother or harming the King—she excels at both. I really want to play a song in her honor."
"You…"
For the first time ever, Gawain smiled at Mordred: "Mordred, this is the first time in my life I've ever felt something like 'respect' or 'gratitude' toward you."
"You guys!"
Even Eikou couldn't help but give a thumbs-up: "What a dutiful daughter!"
"DO YOU GUYS WANNA DIE!!!!"
Mordred screamed in rage, her rebel face flushed red in embarrassment as she immediately drew Clarent on the spot.
"Put the sword down, Mordred."
Along with that voice, Morgan slowly set down her glass of liquor.
Morgan's alluringly beautiful face was flushed from drinking, and her breathing had become erratic.
Eikou, sitting closest to her, couldn't help but notice: even though Morgan had drunk alcohol, the scent coming from her wasn't a strong alcoholic odor, but rather a sweet and enticing fragrance.
"You've finished drinking?"
Eikou was slightly surprised, thinking to himself, she hasn't collapsed yet?
"For a Queen, this is a mere trifle," Morgan said calmly.
Don't try too hard, okay? Her face already looked like it was on the verge of tearing up from the strong alcohol, and the way she bit her cherry lips tightly to hold back the tears was way too cute—so cute it might make readers flame the author for going out of character—"Morgan is not that kind of person"—kind of thing.
[Morgan activated the skill "From the Ends of the World," self-enhancing her Battle Continuation effect once.]
"Then it makes sense."
But this skill usually can only be used once—this time she could endure thanks to Battle Continuation, but next time, that might not work.
Gawain suddenly leaned in and said: "Don't get too optimistic. From what I know, Baobhan Sith still has one Evade skill left unused. So, we'll need to beat Mother-sama at least two more times."
"So that's how it is…"
Eikou nodded seriously.
After all, she is the King of Lostbelt. There's no way Morgan would be defeated that easily.
"We'll just have to rely on our team's ace then—hoping Mo-chan can keep pushing forward. All hail the Lion King junior!!!"
"I'LL KILL YOU RIGHT NOW!!" Mordred roared in fury.